((I, i / '. 'I v- 1/11 i. I', ; /' , ' '1, # 1/, 1 ,Þ, /11. .:t It I,,, _ 'If / Iß j · . / ,f/' ';r /'1 f/// (iJl Ihi: t If ''';': ../ :: ./ ';'. fif '. '/ /" think they were going to see an actual circus. Idle leaned over the table and shaped his hands around an imaginary small animal. "There are some things you know will be there-killer rabbits-but you also need to feel that you're getting some- where, that it isn't just a random revue." The waiter, a tall man with halting English, came to the table and greeted Idle. When the waiter saw a tape recorder, he began whis- pering. He crouched near Idle, and whisper-asked if he would like some water. Idle picked up the cue. He leaned away from the tape recorder--as if it were a sleeping baby not to be woken- and whispered that he would. The waiter seemed confused, but soon came to the conclusion that, given Idle's whispering, he, the waiter, should not speak at all. He mouthed a "sorry" and left. For the rest of the meal, whenever the waiter approached, Idle spoke to him sotto voce. In response, the waiter nodded gravely and served in ab- solute silence. Idle was tired, but optimistic. John Cleese had been in town the day before, and walked into the rehearsal just as the cast was singing "Knights of the Round Table," the lyrics of which Cleese had written with Chapman in 1974. "He had this big grin on his face," Idle recalled. The song, which in the :film is the big- gest production number, is played in "Spamalot" as a Vegas-style bombard- ment of sight and sound, complete with a line of showgirls in body stockings. "Who would have thought we'd have all these people taking it so seriously- learning the lines, learning the steps? Thirty years later, to see people doing this stuff-it's touching. It actually makes " you want to cry. But certain logistical problems per- sisted. In the movie, Cleese, at six feet five, played the Black Knight, who re- fuses to grant King Arthur the victory in a sword fight, even after Arthur has chopped off all four of his limbs. Idle and Nichols had been discussing how to make the Black Knight work onstage. "We thought we'd be able to get a pair of dwarfs, but it was prohibitively expensive," Idle said. "You'd think you'd be able to get them for half price, but " no y A prevailing theory among many of those involved in "Spamalot" is that the success of a string of offbeat musicals- " Th P d "" U . ''' 'A e ro ucers, rlnetown, venue Q:-bodes well for a Python extrava- ganza. It's difficult to imagine investors lining up a decade ago, with "Cats" and "Les Misérables" dominating Broadwa)T. "To me, 'The Producers' is the punch- back of the comedy musical," Idle said. "For years, there was nothing to laugh at, just Andrew Lloyd Webber and the plates on peo- ple's faces. I refuse to believe peo- ple really enjoyed it, though they would say; 'Oh, it's wonderful- all thatjòg!'" Still, he was aware that there needed to be certain concessions. "There are one or two deliberately Broadwayish- " h " B th ' th type songs, e went on. ut at s e joy of it, that Python thing. Each thing we do also mocks the form that it's in. The books, the records, the :films-that's part of what we do. We recognize the form that we're in. That's postmod- ernism, isn't it? And I think we were there before postmoderrusm. We precede . . . was it Deru- What's his name, the French guy?" " D . d "''' errl ar "Right. We precede him. In fact, I think he stole his stuff from 'The Holy Grail.' You know, that movie is still play- ing in France. There's apparently a thirty- seat cinema in Paris that's played 'The Holy Grail' for three decades. That ex- plains a lot." T wo hours later, the "Spamalot" cast was :filing into a rehearsal room that looked exactly like what a rehearsal room for a Broadway musical should look like. The windows were gigantic and over- looked Forty-second Street, the floors were wood, and there was a floor-to-ceiling mIT- ror occupying one wall. The actors wore sweatpants, sweatshirts (some ripped), and even leg warmers. There was a piano in the comer, with a man playing it and a woman turning pages for him. Mike Nichols was overseeing it all, Jedi style, unshakable, smiling benevolentl)T. "I knew going in that musicals are the closest thing to hell on earth," he said. "I have too much experience to ever think that doing a musical could ever be fun, but this is as close to that as it's pos- sible to come." Nichols had a movie, ItOUDA1'ErlfT UST I , 1ì,r'.rÔM.tseIWho IDyes I e. L fi + . TIt r::-. <iT "" LJon.. ,. .. t;. Mt:,Q[ Q)R 'SlN I N . J\. f tv- -: ..... :.X.:.-:i:-:_::-::;::..:-: :-::-: ..-..: . 1,000 * recommended books for $ [ -., {^" ' .., " 5 :' .. , ' .1 < . ,". \. '. :..;, &\.:' eV; ton .. :;; "ì ' 1i;;: IL ; ;1Þ:; ;;.} ':'" r;f ... Whereve oobooks are sold Book Lust by Nancy Pearl Sasquakh Books I www.sasquakhbooks.com .... I.&.' 4 I '.:':.':r .... ' ::. . . . . .. . . .. . ".. . . '--- c.-.....::;.. . .'. 00 , ,,: .,,;< ">>;:.- . . . . .... \.. ........;...... . 'p' -:::- .' '- : ; 4 e : . . ., .... ...'..,....... ,'.' ...'.'.....'. " , : f .... ....&' ':'J:. '. '\ètL:Hii:tjN: :. 7514. Poets rfiers Are you serious about your writing? Poets & Writers is, too. www.pw.org The artists are big. The cause is even bigget Buy an amazing original from the Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project founded by Komar & Melamid www.elehantart.com Follow your dreams. _._ - ) INCA since 1976 " GALAPAGOS PERU PATAGONIA . ANTARCTICA TURKEY ALASKA =: 115: % : '.""""" f' " ',' "... "'. .. co '," . ': t ':æ? : íb '3 !k.. <æ&,j t ;, , J > --' :liiiir...:....";,iHiiíiìaf ,:11: ;!I: i 11,oo"_:',Jtm..tlage.blogsPOI. Ø'1I ': '<<lit, THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 20 & 27, 2004 173